Lakeland dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma

All across Polk County, people emerged from their homes Monday morning to find out how much devastation Hurricane Irma had wrought during the darkness.

Gary White @garywhite13Christopher Guinn @cguinnnews

LAKELAND — All across Polk County, people emerged from their homes Monday morning to find out how much devastation Hurricane Irma had wrought during the darkness.

For Rob Pride and many others, the sunrise brought relief.

Pride, 53, stood on Success Avenue about 8 a.m., gazing at a large magnolia tree that had tumbled and blocked the road near Lake Morton Drive. Large trees were down in at least two other places on Success Avenue, making it a challenge for residents to navigate out of the neighborhood.

Pride said he had no damage at his home. He said a massive tree fell in a neighbor's yard but somehow missed the man's boat by inches. As he waited for water for coffee to boil on his grill, Pride admitted he had actually enjoyed the spectacle of Irma's winds, which gusted to about 100 mph in Lakeland.

"I was sitting out on the front porch watching the storm," he said."It was beautiful. I mean, I like storms. As long as I don’t see anybody getting hurt or property getting damaged bad, it's kind of fun to see Mother Nature at work. It's actually been kind of fun. I had all these people panicking around me, and I said, 'It's going to be all right.'"

Pride's mother, Jean Pride, lives on Success Avenue. She had a slightly different perspective.

"It was scary to me; I don’t like it," said Pride, 81. "I feel relieved and thankful, very thankful it wasn’t any worse."

Pride and her neighbors remained without power Monday morning, and officials from Polk County's electric utilities said it could be several days before power is fully restored.

It's too early to make hard declarations about how long it'll take, but Tampa Electric has been warning customers it could take some time.

"We are out in the field assessing damage, which will give us a good idea," Tampa Electric spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs said. "Thankfully it won't be several weeks, it will be several days."

Of the company's 73,000 customers in Polk County, approximately 54,000 were left powerless by Hurricane Irma's visit.

Duke Energy, which had 66,000 of about 100,000 customers offline in Polk County on Monday, warned customers ahead of time it could take up to a week to get reconnected.

Some will be lucky, of course, company spokeswoman Ana Gibbs said. Areas with damage to the infrastructure, like a downed power pole, will take longer than neighborhoods that popped the fuse on a transformer.

"There are so many factors that is can be difficult to say" exactly when the power will be restored, she said. She also warned customers that in the first day or two Duke Energy trucks will be driving through neighborhoods assessing damage; they aren't necessarily there to put things back together.

Most Polk County power customers — 80 percent — lost power from Hurricane Irma's long route through the state, according to Polk County emergency officials. The storm impacted nearly every Florida county in some way, and electric utilities reported 6.2 million outages statewide — representing 62 percent of Florida electric customers.

Lakeland Electric, Polk County's largest power provider, reported 78,430 customers had gone dark as a result of 1,867 outages on the electrical system that will need to be reset or repaired. As a first priority, Lakeland is bringing in chainsaw crews to clear the roads of downed trees. Crews will then begin restoring the large feeder lines before they will be able to address neighborhood-level power distribution.

"I suspect over the next two days to possibly even two weeks we should see significant restoration of the more than 78,000 customers that were offline because of the storm," City Manager Tony Delgado said. "This was significant to the utility."

Falling trees were the main culprit, Delgado added, with more than 200 causing problems in the city.

The utility reported it lost power to about 60 "feeder" lines that act as a backbone to local power distribution.

The storm's shift from its projected west coast track was bad news for Lakeland and Polk County, City Manager Tony Delgado said.

"It became a much more impacting storm than anyone predicted five days ago," Delgado said.

But, "we didn't see roofs come off; we didn't see real damage unless it was hit by a tree. If it wasn't because of trees and other things hitting the building, we got really lucky."

That rain soaked or slid off already sodden ground and likely contributed to the vast number of trees that fell throughout the city, blocking roads and knocking down power lines. City workers counted more than 200 trees partially or fully blocking roadways at storm's end.

Non-essential city offices will be closed today but residents can expect to see city work crews mobilizing early this morning to begin the cleanup in earnest, Delgado said.

"I don't think anyone expected the amount of rain."

Tampa Electric reported it had 6,000 additional workers on their way, and Duke Energy reported it had 8,000 in addition to locals en route.

Fallen trees blocked roads throughout Lakeland, and the sound of chainsaws could be heard as people began working to remove debris.

A large sweetgum tree toppled onto Lake Hollingsworth Drive near Mississippi Avenue, covering the inside lane and extended into the outside lane.

Jason Brookins was driving to check on his parents about 9 a.m. when he saw the obstacle. Brookins, 35, stopped his vehicle, grabbed his chainsaw and went to work slicing branches into pieces small enough to be carried away.

Another driver, Eric Knaak, 35, stopped at about the same time and began hauling branches out of the road. Within minutes, Matt Kinder, 26, joined in the effort. Another driver, Casey Gifford, 26, soon arrived and went to work with his own chainsaw.

“I’m on the way to my parents’ house, but I can’t leave stuff like this,” Brookins said. “This is how our emergency crews are going to get through. This is how people are going to check on their families. It ain’t going to look pretty when I’m through, but it will be something.”

As the strangers tried to clear the road, some impatient drivers squeezing through on the part of the outside lane that wasn’t blocked made their work more difficult.

John McMurray, an official with Lakeland Electric, arrived in his truck and approached Brookins, saying the utility needs volunteers to help clear fallen trees throughout the city.

Such efforts, McMurray said, could greatly reduce the amount of time it takes Lakeland Electric to restore everyone’s power. He said anyone willing to help should call him at 863-712-1627.

Laura Patrick walked her mixed-breed dog, Holly, along Success Avenue as she surveyed the uprooted trees and carpet of leaf litter. Patrick, 48, said her home sustained no damage.

“It was eerie because of the howling of the winds and things hitting the windows,” she said. “I’m just thankful that the wind lessened. I just can’t imagine, if this was (category) 2 we went through, what (category) 4 or 5 damage would have been. It was just incredible.”

The awning at the entrance to the Terrace Hotel lay crumpled in the parking lot, and a sign from Harry's Grill across from Munn Park blew loose in the storm and wound up wedged between a vehicle and the curb beside the Terrace Hotel's dining room on Main Street.

Amid the chaotic scene, the smell of bacon emanated from the dining area, and a family could be seen calmly eating breakfast inside.

City parking garages were packed with vehicles, some from visitors staying at the Terrace Hotel and others from local residents seeking protection for their cars.

Gregor Senger of Miami was preparing to drive out of the garage on Main Street, ready to head home after fleeing Irma in what turned out to be an odyssey. Senger said he lived in a flood-prone area, and when the hurricane seemed headed toward the Miami area he left home, hoping to reach Atlanta.

Heavy traffic on Interstate 95 prompted him to settle for a hotel in Hollywood, but he was forced to evacuate as the storm approached. He bisected the state and found a hotel in Fort Myers, but as the hurricane wobbled toward southwest Florida he again was forced to evacuate.

He said a friend found a place for him – and his three cats – at the Hilton Garden Inn near Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. He drove to the garage Monday morning to drop off a friend who had parked her convertible in the safety of the structure.

In the North Lake Wire area, a broken oak branch rested on a small, wood-frame rental house occupied by Sandra Toomer, Jeffrey Hall and James Cornelius. The medium-sized branch didn’t appear to have punctured the roof.

The trio grilled chicken, pork chops and hamburgers on a portable grill set up on the front porch of the house on Quincy Street. Like the rest of their neighborhood, they remained without electricity Monday at midday.

The trio told of helping to rescue a homeless woman who wandered desperately through the neighborhood as Irma raged Sunday night. Hall, 56, said he was talking to his brother on the phone when he detected a plaintive call of “Hello, hello,” coming from the behind the house.

“I opened the door, and she was standing on the back porch, soaking wet,” he said. “I told her to get in.”

The trio described their lodger as a waifish white woman in a predominantly black neighborhood. They gave her dry clothes and let her spend the night.

“She said other homeless people told her she couldn’t go to a shelter because she didn’t have ID,” said Toomer, 56.

The woman had departed by late morning Monday, but she left some possessions behind and the residents expected her to return.

In the Dixieland neighborhood, a trio from the Lakeland Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) worked to saw up and remove several trees blocking Missouri Avenue and other roads. CERT is a volunteer group overseen by Polk County Fire Rescue.

David Zdanowicz wielded a chainsaw, while Dick Fearnow helped haul away limbs and Bridget Talley was on her phone coordinating the unit’s efforts.

Zdanowicz said CERT volunteers first look for downed power lines that could pose dangers, and then they concentrate on clearing roadways so that emergency vehicles can get through.

Most businesses remained closed amid widespread power outages, but the 7-Eleven at the corner of South Florida Avenue and Cresap Road was bustling with customers despite its lack of power. Customers lined up to buy energy drinks, sugary snacks, six-packs of rapidly warming beer and cartons of cigarettes.

Roommates Cameron Andrews and Casey Wilson, both 23, joined the throng. They said their home sustained no significant damage.

Both said they were out of work Monday as their employers had no electricity. The men said they weren’t sure when they would go back to work.

The pair said they had stocked up before the storm and felt able to go several days without power.

“It was bad, but we were prepared for it a lot better than most people would,” Andrews said. “I think Houston (and Hurricane Harvey) kind of scared everyone. Florida’s resilient.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13. Christopher Guinn can be reached at christopher.guinn@theledger.com or 863-802-7592.

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